Phenix City. ALA - October 1, 2006 - The 28th Annual Alabama State
Championships were held at East Alabama Motor Speedway as one of the
South's premier dirt track racing events. The 4- day gala event offered
nearly 400 racing teams in nine divisions, from several states, an
absolutely perfect weekend of great weather, non-stop racing excitement,
and the total enjoyment of one of America's greatest traditional
freedoms.
In the Super Late Model division, Ronnie Johnson, The Chattanooga Flash,
from Chattanooga, Tennessee, made a brilliant strategic move, which
electrified the thousands of fans, shocked the other 25 highly skilled
and successful race teams, and with blinding rays of white light,
captured the accolade of 2006 Alabama State Champion.
It was no surprise to see Jake Knowles win the pole for the feature event
in view of his 2006 Jimmy Thomas Memorial Championship victory. Terrance
Nowell, with some previous top five finishes was a local favorite to win
and earned the outside pole, and admiration of his many fans with the
second fastest qualifying time. The incumbent Alabama State Champion,
Clint Smith from Senoia, Georgia, with four previous victories, arrived
after qualifying and took a provisional to enter at the rear of the
field.
When the green flag dropped on the feature, Jake Knowles fired first at
turn 4, but by the time they reached turn one, Terrance Nowell was in the
lead pulling away from the pack. Ricky Williams, who raced in the
inaugural Alabama State race in 1979 won by Ben Thomas, starting from the
inside second row, was able to keep pace with Nowell and moved into
second. Knowles was in third as this trio quickly separated themselves
from Stacy Holmes and the rest of the full field. On lap 3 Clint Smith
had moved up 4 positions as he began one of his famous "from last to
first" runs like last year's Championship. Ethan Hunter suddenly got a
flat tire catching Lavon Sparks and Kenny Hall checking up and spinning
into each other coming to a stop in turn four to bring out the lap 5
caution. Since the track officials made the use of Race-ciever radios
mandatory, it was easy to set the field into their correct positions in
an Alabama Double File restart and we were back to green flag racing.
Again Nowell blasted out and got a comfortable lead from Williams. Holmes
was attacking Knowles from the inside but Knowles always managed to keep
his position. By lap 9 Clint "Cat Daddy" Smith had moved up 12 spots and
was watching Jack Pennington putting the moves on William Thomas running
in tenth. Nowell was in the lap traffic weaving through with Williams as
his shadow and they began lapping the field putting Ethan Hunter and
Byran Sumner a lap down. As soon as they came up on a clear piece of
track, Williams would pull inside Nowell in the turns looking for the
lead but Nowell had the power to stay in front. The Chattanooga Flashstarted in fifth and was biding his time, avoiding attrition, and still
running in fifth at lap 22. Jack Daughtry and Byran Sumner entered the
pits on lap 25 then Mike Head come to a stop in turn four to bring out
the yellow caution flag. The lap 29 restart leaders were Nowell,
Williams, Knowles, Ronnie Johnson, Johnny Cloer, Sam Simmons, Robert
Grant, Clint Smith, Jack Pennington and Stacey Holmes rounded out the
first ten. When the green came back William Thomas entered the pits with
a mechanical failure. Devin Jones, Lee Sutton, Sam Simmons, and Jack
Pennington chain react into a spin in turn four to bring the yellow back
out. By lap 30 Cat Daddy, starting last in row 12 had moved into row 6
and was looking at passing the Chattanooga Flash in fifth. Aaron Ridley
pulled into third place ahead of Cloer. Robert Gant and Knowles were at
it and there was racing excitement at its best all around the track.
Clint Smith powered around Ronnie Johnson to take fifth. Numerology came
into play as Cat Daddy's JP Drilling, Base Race Fuels, Integra Racing
Shocks, Oval Craft Aluminum Designs, Race-Tek Racing Engines, Hoosier
tire, GRT Race Cars Pontiac GTO # 44 passed the # 44 of Johnny Cloer on
lap 44 to move into 4th place. Jack Pennington lost power and rolled into
the pits on lap 49 as did Byran Sumner. Robert Gant passed Cloer to move
into fifth and Cat Daddy passed Ridly to move into third on lap 75. Smith
next moved on his life long friend Ricky Williams looking for second
place. On lap 80 Cloer had a flat which brought out the yellow. The Flash
entered the pits and it looked like he was done for the evening but this
was part of his ingenious plan to win the race. Johnson made it back out
and stayed at the end of the lead lap but ahead of all the lap cars.
Green was back out and the 100-lap event was coming to a swift close. The
top 5 leaders were Nowell, Williams, Smith, Ridley, and Jake Knowles and
they were still blistering the track with super fast times. On lap 90 the
Cat Daddy used up one of his nine lives when a flat forced him into the
pits. His crew changed one tire and he was back in the hunt with only ten
laps left and he went to the ninth position as everyone else had been
lapped. When this green flag came out the Flash executed his perfect
battle plan. He charged the field, outside the preferred line, running a
unique groove at the top of the track he found cool, sticky clay which,
with his two new rear tires from his last pit stop allowed him to stick
like glue and run in a world of his own. He was several seconds faster
than everyone else on the track and he passed them at will. He took
Knowles out and went to fifth spot. He charged right on faster than
lightning and the crowd stood in awe as he whizzed past Ridley and Ricky
Williams. Then, on lap 95, Ronnie Johnson, once again validated his
moniker, The Chattanooga Flash, taking the lead and powering away from
Nowell. Johnson was so fast there was no hope of anyone catching him as
he took the checkers in front of the thousands of cheering fans in
disbelief. Terrance Nowell finished second, Ricky Williams third, Aaron
Ridley fourth, Lee Sutton fifth, Clint Smith sixth, Jake Knowles seventh,Stacey Holmes eight, Johnny Cloer ninth, and Sam Simmons rounding out the
top ten in tenth.